2 gcx + cntl switcher control via Decibel 11 pedal palette?

[Midicity]

I am using my ground control pro at the moment to control all midi patches as well as my 2 GCX units and 1 voodoo lab control switcher. I am acquiring a Decibel eleven pedal palette midi / parallel pedal looper and while I know it will control one GCX via midi cc , I was wondering if the second GCX and control switcher could also be controlled via cc messages that will not conflict with each other? My pedalboard just doesn't have the room and I would like to just use the much smaller decibel eleven pedal palette to do all pedal, GCX's, channel and midi switching. As it stands now, I could run the palette into my gc pro and control everything but that is one more thing to carry and the gc pro is fairly large. Thanks for any help.

[nyteowl]

I took a look at the Pedal Palette manual, and unfortunately, I think you may be mistaken about its ability to transmit MIDI CC numbers, as I can find no mention of that feature in the manual. While the Pedal Palette can send and receive MIDI Program Change information, I do not believe it can handle MIDI Control Change information, and PC numbers and CC numbers serve two totally different functions.

[Midicity]

Yeah. I have been reading non stop on all kinds of posts. I see that the ability to have multiple gcx units via cc would require a different chip for the second gcx and so on. I also see that the decibel eleven switch witch or switch dr. as they are now calling it, can send cc but no mention of the pedal palette with cc plus no expression pedal jack for the pedal palette. I emailed decibel eleven but if the palette does not send cc then I would have to get the switch dr. and a second blender or the palette and keep my gcp. I really wish Voodoo lab made something similar as I would definitely buy the voodoo lab version over any other. I have had my gcx units for 20 years with no problems ever and I know they make great stuff. At the moment I am using a wounded paw parallel blender that I really like for my pedals that are on the board but it has no midi ugh. I have a couple rack mounted pedals via the gcx as well but the other gcx channels are being used up for other wacky routing, channel switching etc. I am in a 3 piece band so juggling singing, guitar and sequencing have my hands full thus a midi triggered blender is needed. Any other features are a bonus. My pedalboard is big as is and I was hoping to consolidate the size of things as much as possible. Thanks for your help and any other insights.

UPDATE:
Decibel eleven emailed me and stated that regarding midi, the palette sends pc messages only.
Palette pedal 1 = patch change 0, pedal 2 = patch change 1 etc. The switch witch does what I need but no parallel routing only true bypass loops. Decisions, decisions......

[nyteowl]

Have you checked out this one yet: Peak FCB4N2?

It's not a looping device like the Pedal Palette, but it will send 4 Program Change Messages (PC) and 8 Continuous Controller Messages (CC) per preset.

[Midicity]

Seems like a good economical choice for a dedicated midi pedal compared to a midi mouse and the like although no 1/4 expression jack unfortunately. I checked out a ton of pedals and loopers etc. I think I will just use the pedal palette to trigger the gcp presets / channels 1-4 or 0-3 as they call it then let the already programmed gcp do the rest as it is doing now. Maybe I will put the gcp on the other side of the stage as to be able to change presets as needed manually if I am on that side of the stage. Thanks so much for your help. I greatly appreciate it and I am sure others do too in their quest for answers here. You are a huge asset to this forum.

[nyteowl]

I"m happy to help.

Have you thought about rack mounting your GCPro on a sliding rack shelf? It's not an optimal solution, to be sure, but it will give you the option of permanently connecting it to your GCX and allow for fewer cables to deal with during set up and tear down.

[Midicity]

No room in my racks but I will either have it on the other side of the stage or set on top of my rolling amp rack combo case. Maybe our tech can change presets on shows where we don't bring the video, audio, midi program change, sequencing rig. I drove Alice in chains tech to their sound check once and saw that he does that for jerry Cantrell remotely from back stage instead of sequencing the program changes for his rig. Good idea to borrow.

[Midicity]

I went and bought a pedaltrain grande so I can have my ground control pro on the same board and use it as my main controller.
I have one question:
How do I keep the phantom power from the gcx from messing up my pedal palette? I need the pedal palette to be after the ground control pro but I need to power the gcp from my gcx via phantom power over the midi cable.

Signal path as follows:
1) Either myself or the computer will be changing presets on the ground control pro The gcp will then use it's programs to change everything else. Some shows I will not have the computer such as festivals etc.

2) Ground control pro as master

3) Pedal palette as slave

4) Gcx in rack sending phantom power to the ground control pro but I do not want the phantom power to mess up the pedal palette. I read that the gcx phantom power could possibly mess with another company's device possibly.

Any suggestions?

[nyteowl]

Regarding Item 4, your concern about the GCX's phantom power possibly having a negative impact on another company's device is irrelevant when you connect the GCX to a GCPro. The phantom power goes no further than the GCPro, and the warning refers to using a GCX with a controller other than the GCPro. See page 14 in the GCX Owner's Manual.

Now the questions in my mind are, a) how are you going to power the Pedal Palette, and b) how do you intend to make your MIDI connections in order to slave the Pedal Palette to the GCPro? I'm thinking it might be easiest to forget about the phantom power option entirely and power both the GCPro and Pedal Palette with their OEM power supplies. Then you can run the GCPro MIDI Out to the Pedal Palette MIDI IN and the MIDI Out from there on to your GCX.

[Midicity]

The palette would be in be in between the Gcx and gcp. Decibel eleven got back to me regarding phantom powering the palette and it is not possible to use phantom power with it. I will have to use a power supply for it and the palette won't pass phantom power as it is not utilizing those pins. I tried my stock gcp power supply last night with my gcp and it would not power my gcp when the Gcx was taken out of the equation. The Gcx and stock gcp we're not used at the same time for fear of sending double power to the gcp. I hooked the gcp midi out in an experiment directly to the pedal palette and used the respective stock power supplies each unit came with. Maybe the gcp 9v AC power supply is bad? It has never been used and this gcpro is less than 2 years old. Assuming I need a new power supply and I use a factory power supply for each device, how to I keep phantom power from reaching the pedal Palette if it is in between the Gcx and gcp? I really don't want to have to run the pedal palette after my rack as this would require a second long midi cable from the rack back to my pedalboard.